


we're gonna live forever

by fondtoziers



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Bill Denbrough Loves Stanley Uris, F/F, Fluff, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, Sleepy Cuddles, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, mike has a gf i just didnt mention her im sorry mike ily, pennywise doesnt exist, this is literally just self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 07:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20653580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fondtoziers/pseuds/fondtoziers
Summary: richie tozier hates winter, but he loves his friends.





	we're gonna live forever

richie fucking hated winter. winter meant that he was constantly freezing, his glasses were constantly fogged up, the losers couldn’t spend time in the clubhouse because of the thin layer of frost covering every surface and the ladder down was ‘’ridiculously unsafe i’m going to break my fucking arm again dipshit’’ according to eddie, which if richie was being completely honest, that alone would have been enough to convince him to never step foot in that place again for as long as he lived.

but most of all, richie hated winter because it meant that eddie was constantly shivering, complaining about the dropping temperature everyday and stealing every hoodie that richie owned, and for as cute as he looked wrapped up in his oversized hoodies, eddie being cold just wasn’t acceptable in richie’s view. 

this is how the losers ended up having to find a temporary clubhouse during the cold winter months. all of their usual hang out spots had been covered in heavy layers of snow and ice for days before they had decided on one saturday in the clubhouse, all shivering under layers of blankets that each of them had managed to steal from their own homes; listening to the quiet sounds of the cure playing softly in the background with bev glaring at richie before asking him ‘’why can’t we just..oh i don't know..go to someone's house instead of sitting here freezing?’’ in a quietly frustrated voice that showed just how done she was with the situation. ‘’because bev my dear, we..i don’t know actually why the fuck are we here? I’m freezing my ass off and eddie spaghetti has my jacket, let’s go to big bill’s instead. i just know sharon misses me as much as i miss her’’ richie said making kissy noises in bills direction at the opposite side of the clubhouse, bill just rolled his eyes at richie, smiling and replying ‘’yeah fuck you too rich, everyone except richie is invited’’ his voice muffled by the endless layers of sweatshirts, jumpers and jackets that he piled on as he left the house that morning. 

once they had arrived at bill’s, and bill had desperately tried to convince his parents that they needed a place to hang out ‘’just until february - march at the latest! please mom? I promise i’ll take care of the basement and i’ll keep it clean and the los- everyone will help out too?’’ once they had all agreed to the Denbrough’s condition that everyone kept it clean and they would clear everything back out once the weather had improved, the Denbrough’s let the loser’s have full control of their dusty basement - refusing to admit that they enjoyed having the small group of misfits around the house, laughter and bickering being heard all over the house everytime they were all together.

that was two months ago, and the denbrough’s basement had slowly become a safe haven for each of the losers, each of them moving in more and more of their belongings until the basement became something so intimately theirs. bill had brought down the essentials - but the basement still looked bare, and if bill was being completely honest, it just looked depressing. it had begun with richie bringing comics over, claiming it was so that he didn’t die of boredom. then ben bringing over a random assortment of books that he had insisted his mother was throwing out anyway and he might as well bring them to make the place look less bare. stan had brought over as many blankets as he could manage to steal from his mother’s linen closet, telling the group that she wouldn’t miss them, and that they needed them more than her anyway. bev had brought over some posters of different bands that she had torn out of different magazines, arriving over early one morning, backpack full and a box of thumbtacks ready to go to work on covering the bleak grey walls. eddie had brought band-aids over, specially chosen spongebob squarepants ones that he knew the losers would appreciate, and that he knew they were going to need at some stage considering they were all the clumsiest group of people he had ever met. mike had brought over his polaroid camera, making sure that each of the losers knew how to work it, knowing that they just had to have proof of some moments in their lives, and that he would rather have the physical memento of the other six people in the room than anybody - or anything else in the world. 

that was how the dark, cold basement had turned into the warmest place in all of derry almost overnight. 

‘’you guys know what we should do now?’’ bev had asked the group, a mischievous smirk on the redheads face, after they had finished putting up the christmas lights bill had found hidden away in the garage while on a quest to try to find anything extra that they could use as decoration for their temporary clubhouse, she had expected the boys to give her equally as enthusiastic answers but was met with blank stares, each on a different level of intrigue as they tried to figure out what she was about to suggest, ‘’oh relax i’m not about to suggest world domination, i was just going to say we should have a movie marathon you dumbasses’’ 

it was an unspoken rule in the group that stan and eddie always chose the first movie they watched, it wasn’t even that it was planned or ever officially decided upon; it had just happened that way. stan and eddie had a scarily similar taste in movies, usually reaching over to grab the same dvd case at the same time - and richie and bill usually just agreed with their boyfriends, generally not caring what they had chosen once it wasn’t a ‘’fucking slasher movie, that shit is so unrealistic and so disgusting at the same time, if you put that on i’ll walk out and sit on the porch for the next two hours stan i swear to god’’ as bill had once ranted at the group when stan had suggested they watch halloween one night in richie’s and that had ended that dream just as quickly as it had been suggested. 

the two boys had suggested that they watch stand by me for their first movie, with bev, mike and ben agreeing to the suggestion since nobody was in the mood for a movie that actually required their attention, they had just wanted something for background noise as they relaxed from their long day of doing up bill’s basement to fit their standards of what a clubhouse - albeit temporary should look like. 

richie and eddie had claimed the two seater couch as soon as the word ‘movie’ had come out of bev’s mouth, richie claiming he needed the space ‘’i dont want to end up a short ass like eds here do i?’’ bev already knows she’s going to hear a comeback from the short brunette boy as soon as the sentence is out of richie’s mouth ‘’hey first of all fuck you rich, second of all dont call me eds’’ richie just smiled fondly at the boy, blushing when eddie immediately started cuddling into his side and then taking his hand and intertwining their fingers ‘’i’m a growing boy bev i need the room’’ richie smiled innocently at his best friend, doing his best impression of puppy dog eyes that he could possibly do ‘’i’m calling bullshit trashmouth you’ve been the same height for months you just want to cuddle with eddie’’ stan’s voice came from the opposite side of the room, half muffled from the way he was leaning into bill’s shoulder ‘’stanley i am wounded i thought you were going to be on my side’’ richie, ever the drama king , clutched his chest while stan just rolled his eyes at his best friend from across the room chuckling into bill’s chest while the auburn haired boy beside him set up the movie. 

richie wasn’t even sure how they had ended up in this position, he must have dozed off because the last thing he could remember was eddie laying his head on his chest, bill pressing play on the movie and turning off the harsh basement light, the only source of light in the basement now being the tv and the christmas lights that they had strung around the small room earlier that day. now, his neck was sore after having fallen to the side at an awkward angle at some point when he was asleep, his arm was dead which honestly; he wasn’t surprised at and there was something heavy in his lap. wiping the last remainders of sleep out of his eyes, he stretched his arms and started running his hands through the sleeping boy on his lap’s hair, gently unknotting his hair and rubbing his scalp and using his free hand to tap bev on the shoulder to ask her to get him a drink; ‘’please bev i can’t disturb eds he’s sleeping, have you ever seen him when he’s woken up? bev m’dear he’s like an angry chihuaha would you really put me through that because you’re too lazy to get me a coke?’’ and god fucking damn it. richie always knew exactly what to say to make bev do whatever it was he wanted, whether that was hotboxing the broom closet beside the old science room in school, or just getting him a drink because he was so whipped for eddie that he wouldn’t dare move and interrupt his boyfriends sleep ‘’christ richie you owe like .. 2 smokes for this i was comfortable asshole’’ richie just blew her a kiss to which she just responded by giving him the middle finger, richie laughed loudly at the gesture ‘’thanks molly i owe ya’’ bev snorted and replied, ‘’promise to never call me molly again and we’ll be even rich’’

the pair had been sitting in a comfortable silence for almost 15 minutes, richie still playing with eddie’s hair, that had begun to feel like silk since he had spent so long carefully unknotting every strand, taking care not to hurt the boy who was sleeping oh so peacefully on his lap. bev was the first one to interrupt the silence, clearly becoming bored with the movie, as it was clear the other 4 boys had as they were all sleeping soundly, mike curled up on makeshift bed of blankets he had made, a book on the history of derry clutched to his chest; ‘’so, rich, i have a very important question for you’’ richie was intrigued, he had never in his life turned down one of bev’s questions, the fiery girl always asking him something that left him in silence thinking about the answer ‘’go ahead molly’’ he smirked, knowing he was pushing his luck with her and that she could turn around and wake up eddie, leaving richie to deal with the grumbling boy for the rest of the evening - ‘’ok this is really important, and i don’t want one of your smartass answers or i will not hesitate to beat the shit out of you’’ her tone was serious, if richie was being honest he had never seen the girl so serious, and it was kind of scaring the shit out of him. 

‘’okay if you laugh i’m going to end your life just so you know tozier’’ 

‘’bev - richie reached over and took her hand using his free one, intertwining their fingers - you can tell and ask me anything and i won’t laugh at you i swear, just tell me? you know you could probably kill a man and i’d probably just help you cover it up’’ richie sounded so earnest, so honest and bev just knew he was speaking directly from the heart ‘’are you happy rich? honestly and truly happy?’’

sure richie and bev had begun their friendship on a rocky start, but richie was just scared.  
all his life there had been him, stan, eddie and bill and all of a sudden there were three more people in their group, now richie could honestly say he would die for each and every person in this room, but 4 years ago when he was a scared 13 year old, he was petrified they would all steal his best friends from him, that they would all realise that ben was so much more sensitive than he was, that mike was so much more level headed and brave than he was - but he was especially terrified that bev was going to steal eddie away from him. of course now, as a logical, almost adult he realises how stupid that was, that they were never going to leave him.  
it was almost like fate had brought the seven of them together, like they completed each other in ways they would never be able to describe to anybody outside of the losers club that they were all missing pieces of one another, but once they were together they were the full puzzle. 

bev’s question was racing through richie’s mind - was he happy? - he looked around the room and saw people he loved in so many different ways and for so many different reasons. bill who had been there for him in so many different ways, stan who had listened to his rambling about eddie for hours on end, ben who had taught him it was okay to show your vulnerable side, mike who had taught him what true bravery looked like, bev who had been the first person he had ever come out to as a terrified fifteen year old and who had just held his hand and told him how proud she was of him, and eddie; the sleeping boy in his lap who had gotten him through the worst times of his life and who had been there for the best times - the boy who he knew he would do anything for. 

richie knew every person in the small, cramped room that they had decided would be their new clubhouse for winter was his home, and that it didn’t matter where they were in the world and that once they were all together he would be at home and happy.

he looked down at eddie who was still sleeping soundly on his lap, and the amount of love he felt in that moment was overwhelming,tears beginning to form and he blinked them away, praying that bev hadn’t noticed just how emotional he was getting at one little question. he felt like he was about to start crying at the trust that eddie was showing him just by falling asleep on him; hands still running through eddie’s dark brown hair, smoothing it out and wrapping his brown curls around his finger gently he finally replied to the red haired girl who was looking at him expectantly, patiently waiting for the answer. 

richie knew that the only answer was yes. for the first time in his life he felt such calm and serenity inside of him, and he knew that he was truly happy in that moment, and that he had been for so long without ever really noticing, but now - all he could think about was just how good this life was. 

‘’bev i genuinely don’t think i’ve ever been this truly happy in my life.’'

**Author's Note:**

> title from lemon boy by cavetown ♡
> 
> hey uhhhh if you liked this maybe follow me on twitter @fondtoziers  
if you hated it you can also shout at me if u wanna


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